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TN - Tatiana Emerson, 3, raped & murdered, Chattanooga, 27 Aug 2014

Three-year-old Tatiana Emerson was sexually assaulted and severely beaten before she died on Aug. 27, Hamilton County Medical Examiner James Metcalfe concluded in an autopsy report...

Tatiana died a day after her mother's boyfriend, Rhasean Lowry, 34, brought her to a Chattanooga hospital and told police the girl had fallen down some stairs at the motel where the family had been staying... But evidence contradicted his story, police said. Motel security cameras pictured Lowry placing Tatiana's unconscious body into his car and then stopping to pay for another night at the motel before heading to the hospital.

Lowry was arrested and charged with criminal homicide and two counts of child abuse on Aug. 28, a day after Tatiana died. He is being held in the Hamilton County Jail on a $600,000 bond, and his case has been handed to a grand jury, which will decide whether to move it into Criminal Court by issuing indictments.

The toddler was covered in bruises, scratches and old scars that showed she had been injured over a long period of time, according to the report. She died from blunt-force trauma to her head and body."This was brutal, chronic child abuse that Tatiana was subjected to," said Adem Shaker, a medical examiner who runs a forensic consulting company in Huntsville, Ala.

About the time we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends. Herbert Hoover

What about the mother? Will she be charged also. If the abuse had been going on for a while she had to know what was happening. I hope they both pay dearly for what they did to this beautiful baby girl.

What a precious little angel. After reading the first article, I thought to myself that if I had young ones now, I would be afraid to even have a boyfriend. Then the second article explains that the mother KNEW and didn't even care enough about that baby to stay and face her due charges. It makes me sick; just sick. I will never be able to understand and it happens way too often.

Chattanooga Police have arrested a 22-year-old mother and charged her with Reckless Endangerment of a Child in connection with the death of her daughter back in August.

Melanie Emerson's 3-year-old daughter Tatiana Emerson was at an EconoLodge with her 5-year-old brother when she was severely injured... Police said her death was a "direct result from aggravated child abuse."

A Chattanooga man beat a 3-year-old girl to death, then lied about her falling down the stairs to cover it up, prosecutors said on the first day of Rhasean Lowry's trial in Hamilton County Criminal Court.

Hotel surveillance footage and medical testimony don't support Lowry's story that 3-year-old Tatiana Emerson fell down the stairs on Aug. 26, 2014, at the Econo Lodge on Bonny Oaks Drive, prosecutor Lance Pope said Tuesday.

Lowry, 37, made that story up because he beat Tatiana to death, Pope said, and jurors should find him guilty of first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse.

But his attorney, Dan Ripper, said the state's proof is nowhere near conclusive and that a medical expert's testimony will prove his client's innocence.

"[The doctor] will explain how many of the things that you will see are the results of resuscitation efforts," Ripper said. "My whole point is, the state is adamant: There's only one way, and it's child abuse. The fact of the matter is, it can happen like Rhasean said, and she fell down the stairs."

"There was evidence of severe traumatic brain injury," Talbott, who has nearly three decades of experience, said of his examination. "In addition to that, she had bleeding in the back of her eyes — that's associated with strong shaking. The bruises were all rounded. And of most concern, there were no abrasions. It appeared to be more blunt trauma. From falling down a metal staircase, I would have anticipated some abrasions somewhere on the body.

"The constellation of these findings indicated that this child had suffered some inflicted injury," he said.

"If she falls down the stairs, she can hit her head, and she can have some trauma," Young said. "On top of that, if they're [hospital officials] basically trying to handle her mouth, if they're pulling her eyelids open, if they're to stick [a medical instrument] into her ears, if they're trying to move her to a cart, all of these things can lead to bruises as well.

"The fact that she has multiple bruises in her scalp, face, mouth and ears would be expected in this situation."

Young said he could explain the bleeding in the brain and eyes as well: When pressure in the brain starts to push down, it causes a herniation and leads to bleeding. And shaking doesn't cause bleeding in the eyes, he said.

Prosecutors stuck to their main points: Video surveillance and medical testimony showed that Rhasean Lowry lied about 3-year-old Tatiana Emerson falling down the stairs at an Econo Lodge on Aug. 26, 2014.

"These are intentional acts," said prosecutor Cameron Williams. "These are 70 blows, 70 inflicted injuries. On the right side of her face, left side of her face, the back of her head. On her trunk, abdomen, back, bottom, legs."

Defense attorney Dan Ripper said the state couldn't prove Emerson didn't fall down the stairs and that an independent medical professional found her injuries were consistent with Lowry's account.